


Sweet and Savory and Everything in Between

by Symxalia



Series: ShuAke Confidant Week [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Miscommunication for comedy, ShuAke Confidant Week, a crepe date!, day one: food
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 12:06:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16449632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Symxalia/pseuds/Symxalia
Summary: ShuAke Confidant Week Day 1 – food / foil / antithesis“I heard they had really good sweets despite the store being out of the way, the perfect place for a first date, right?”





	Sweet and Savory and Everything in Between

Featherman is playing on the tv when Akira gets back to Leblanc. It’s an old re-run that Akira’s probably seen a dozen times but it still brings a smile to his face; Not nearly as much as the sight of his favorite detective sitting at the counter, though.

 

That leaves Akira _beaming_.

 

On the inside at least.

 

He barely contains himself from bounding up the stairs and tossing his school bag onto the bed, to Morgana’s relief.

 

“What’s got you all excited?” Morgana’s voice snaps him out of his haze and he’s brought back to earth, instead of the energized clouds where he was stuck.

 

“I’ve gotta be quick or Akechi might disappear again,” he has a tendency to do that more often then not actually. Akira looks away for a second and Akechi wanders off to go save the world, or whatever he does when he’s not playing chess at Leblanc with Akira.

 

Morgana’s ears pin against his head and he bears his teeth. “Akechi! You mean the _detective!_ What are you _thinking_?!”

 

“Calm down nothing’s gonna happen. We just play chess and talk about old philosophers”

 

“And what are you gonna do when you slip up?”

 

“Why ‘when’ and not _if_?” Akira’s arm cross over his chest defensively, his tone slipping for a millisecond to show the irritation he feels from his companion.

 

“You’re a thief Akira! You can’t be getting close to a _detective_ ” he says the word detective like a curse, and something in Akira’s stomach sours. Instead of retaliating with something he might regret Akira decides to take the petty route and leave the conversation entirely and go back downstairs.

 

“Speak of the devil and he appears, hey kid” Sojiro greats him as he makes it down the last few steps. Akechi is watching him while he sips his coffee with a benign smile. Akira almost doesn’t want to know what they were talking about, almost.

 

“Aww talking about me? Only good things I hope?”

 

“Are you kidding me kid? You’re like a natural disaster bundled up into a high school student, don't think I didn’t hear about what happened with Minako-san down the street”

 

Akira’s face breaks out into a blush, that had been a huge embarrassment, something for his brain to torment him in the middle of the night when insomnia strikes for years to come.

 

“Oh? What’s this?”

 

“Kid you won’t believe this, this little delinquent-”

 

“ _HA ha ha_ come on Boss we shouldn’t bore the detective with boring stories of everyday normal civilian life” Akira cuts Sojiro off in a panic, his blush deepening “hey Akechi! If you have the time, why don’t we play some chess?”

 

“I suppose we can play a game or two, wouldn’t want to get rusty,” Akechi looks highly amused when he turns to stand, his cup in hand.

 

Akira fears for the next time Akechi comes to the cafe when he’s not around.

 

Pulling out the board and setting it on the table on _their_ booth never takes much time, and in less than a few minutes a contemplative silence has blanketed the cafe. A battle of wits that Akira has yet to win but he can almost taste victory with each new game.

 

“Meeting somewhere outside of leblanc for once was interesting wasn’t it?”

 

“Ah- yeah it was, the lights were kinda bright though, weren’t they?”

 

“Mm, yes, I find it’s one of the few things that I can never quite get used to”

 

“I don’t think I could, either…” an idea hit Akira so hard he almost missed the chance to catch Akechi’s rook “hey Akechi”

 

“Yes Kurusu?” Akechi meets his eyes and holds them, causing Akira to blush. He breaks eye contact and looks back at the board, a faux of thinking about what he should do for his next move.

 

“Well um… you said you wanted to continue our conversation from before. Why don’t we- that is uh.”

 

Akechi lets him talk, watching his face with a contemplative smile.

 

“Do you wanna go out sometime? To get some food and talk” Akira’s face is hot, he licks his lower lip before biting it to keep from saying anything more.

 

If he were looking at Goro instead of the chess pieces he would have seen his eyes track the motion.

 

“Is that not what we do here?” there’s an evil, teasing glint in his eyes as he takes a sip of his coffee, almost as if he’s making a point.

 

“You!-” Akira makes a frustrated hand motion in Akechi’s direction.

 

“Haha I’m only kidding, I’d love to Kurusu” and then he turns back to the game, Akira following suit, maybe he’ll win this time.

 

* * *

 

“Come _on_ dude this is like, the sixth outfit, weren’t we gonna go to Big Bang?”

 

“Shush Ryuji, what you wear on a first date is important. Spin Akira, let me see the back”

 

“Uh, okay”

 

“Nope! Not this one either, the top’s good but those jeans don’t work”

 

“What? What’s wrong with those jeans? They match the top just fine”

 

“They’re too baggy, it makes his butt disappear”

 

“ _What!?!?”_ Ryuji almost drops his phone as his entire body spins to face Ann, surprise and horror showing clearly on his face. Akira’s not much better, red has spread all the way to his ears, if it were possible he’d be steaming.

 

A nearby shop attendant it giving them dirty looks for being loud.

 

“You both heard me” she holds her hand in front of her mouth to keep from laughing.  
“Now c'mon Akira, next one” she makes a shooing motion.

 

Behind the closed door, Akira can relax for a moment as he gets changed, though he can still hear the other two chatting.

 

“Oh hey, sorry if I like, missed it or something but who’re you taking out Akira? Some girl from our school?”

 

“Oh right, you didn’t tell us” Ann voice pitches up at the realisation

 

“-chi”

 

“Hmm?? Man you’re gonna have to speak up, we can’t hear ‘ya so good through the door”

 

Akira bites his lip, worried, before saying it again, louder this time. “Akechi”

 

he cringes as it leaves his mouth, waiting for a response. And boy does he get one.

 

“ **_Akechi!?_ ** ” they both say it in such perfect unison that if Akira weren’t currently attempting to figure out how to enter the Metaverse without a phone so he can escape this conversation he would wonder if they rehearsed it.

 

Ryuji’s voice is much quieter when he speaks next, he must have noticed the glaring employee “Dude _why?_ ”

 

“Um”

 

“Ryuji! You don’t just ask people why they’re going on a date!” there’s a muffled _thump_ that sounds distinctly like ann slapping ryuji on the back of the head.

 

Akira breathes a sigh of relief before pulling on the next pair of pants, looking at himself in the mirror, they look okay. Right?

 

“But where are you taking him? Getting mobbed by fans on a date would suck”

 

Akira throws the door open in panic, meeting Ann's eyes.

 

“You... didn’t think of where you were gonna take him. Did you”

 

“No I didn’t Ann, _help”_ his words come out in a pleading rush.

 

* * *

 

“Hello Kurusu! Sorry for keeping you waiting, the train was a little slow,” Akechi smooths down his blue and white argyle sweater as he speaks. 

 

Akira takes a moment to look Akechi, he notices the slight flush on his brow, and the sweat beading on his jaw. He looks less put together than Akira’s ever seen him and he can’t help but stare.

 

“Kurusu?” he leans in to get a closer to get his attention and Akira flushes, snapping back into focus.

 

“Sorry, the heat must be getting to me?”

 

“Was that a question?” a smirk flashes onto Akechi’s face before his usual pleasant boy smile is firmly back in place.

 

“Either way, let's get out of this heat, you look like you’re dying in that” he can’t help but tease. Because really, what was Akechi thinking, wearing a sweater in june?

 

“Ah yes, I’m looking forward to seeing what you have planned for us” Akechi doesn’t say anything about the comment on his clothing, only choosing to look at Akira expectantly.

 

“Let’s go then”

 

____

 

“You know, when you said we were getting out of the heat I didn’t think you would lead me _here_ ”

 

“I heard they had really good sweets, despite the store being out of the way, the perfect place for a first date, right?”

 

Akechi’s face blanks as Akira watches then, a realisation flashes through his eyes. Following that, a deep flush spreads before being obscured by Akechi’s hand grabbing his entire lower face.

 

It doesn’t stop Akira from seeing the surprise in his eyes. Did he not think this was a date? Did Akira read something wrong?

 

“Is something wrong?”

 

Akechi’s blush hasn’t faded at all by the time he finally composes himself enough to speak “a… date? Surely you’re just teasing me Kurusu”

 

Akira’s face is quickly morphing into a strawberry, or at least trying it’s hardest to do so. Fuck it, this is worse that what happened to Minako-san. He would like to die now.

 

“That’s! Not to say that I would mind going on a date with you, wait no, I- um, oh dear,” Akechi fiddles with with his bangs as he curls into himself. Akira’s never seen such an honest look on his face.

 

Akira senses an attempt to recover and leaps for it “oh come on detective, surely people ask you on dates all of the time,”

 

“That’s a completely different concept! It’s usually… women…” he trails off. And Akira just barely hears the next part slip out “and not usually someone I would actually _want_ to go on a date with”

 

Did he just-

 

“So you want this to be a date?” Akira can’t help his hopeful tone.

 

“Um!” Akechi’s back to not meeting his eyes “yes?”

 

“Then let’s date” for a moment, Akira wonders if he’s being too forceful, he doesn’t want to make Akechi mad at him, in fact it wants anything _but_ that. But, the idea of canceling this date when both of them _do_ want to date doesn’t sit right with him.

 

“It’s not that simple! What if the press see us, or,” he shudders, “the _fangirls”_

 

“I guess we’ll have to be sneaky” a grin spreads on Akira’s face as an idea hits him “like _phantom thieves_ ” morgana would yell at him if he was here, but Akira can’t resist. There’s no chance of Akechi suspecting him anyway. Akira is just Leblanc’s barista who happens to be a phan.

 

“Like- Kurusu that joke is in poor taste,” despite this, Akechi is smiling.

 

“You have to think like a phantom thief to find phantom thieves detective,” Akira pushes up is glasses in a mock snooty gesture.

 

Akechi slips on a pensive mask, though the corners of his mouth keep attempting to upturn. “Hm yes perhaps, we might have to test this theory”

 

“Yes yes, and to start. We should stop loitering and go get some crepes.”

 

“For once, I agree, one cannot work on an empty stomach afterall”

 

* * *

 

They end up walking through the shaded back streets of Shibuya. Not the most romantic place, but it keeps them away from prying eyes. Talking jovially while eating their crepes. Their free hands brushing by their sides.

 

“So, why did you decide to ask me out? Wait no, let me rephrase that. What made you think I wouldn’t reject going on a date with you, a boy?”

 

Ah. He doesn’t know

 

“Well… Um, don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but you look and act about as gay as a rainbow,” Akira figures being blunt is best, dancing around the ‘issue’ would just frustrate Akechi.

 

“As a- I do _not_!” a little frustrated frown creases Akechi’s brow and Akira can’t help but chuckle lightly. “Kurusu, there’s no way” he looks about ready to sue Akira for slander.

 

While he’s watching Akechi’s reactions he notices something off, a small smear of cream on the corner of Akechi’s mouth. Without thinking he reaches over to swipe it off with his thumb, moving slower than usual from the summer heat.

 

Two things happen faster than Akira can blink. First, Akechi drops his crepe, a beautiful blush spreading down to his neck.

 

Second, a crow neither of them saw before that moment swoops into the alley where they stand and snatches the crepe. Like it was waiting for scraps and instead got a whole feast.

 

“Hey! You rodent of a bird, give me that back!” Akechi yells up at the bird, it’s perched on a nearby street lamp, just out of reach, eating the strawberries out of the crepe smugly.

 

“I don’t think you want that any more” Akira says through the shock, completely deadpan

 

Akechi pouts, it’s adorable.

 

“C’mon, we can share mine”

 

“I suppose… that would work” he looks off to the side, embarrassed.

 

He hands his crepe over to Akechi and, without looking, Akechi takes a bite. Then his face twists like he’s just gulped down soured milk.

 

“Kurusu what _is_ this?” he looks down at the crepe with suspicion.

 

“It’s chicken and mushroom”

 

“I’ve never had a _savory_ crepe before. Why would they make something like this?” it’s so ridiculous that Akira’s almost _forced_ to laugh. Leave it to a true sweets lover to think non sweet food is an assault on mankind.

 

“Kurusu?” after seeing so many sides of Akechi today last names feel wrong.

 

“Call me Akira”

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! thanks for reading. if you liked it please do leave a kudos or comment! 
> 
> (I totally didn't write this in four hours at 11am because I didn't realize the event started today.)


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